Leap Year - is it spring now?!

Today is beautiful and sunny, with temps in the low 70s - I think we can say with confidence that we have avoided any big snowfall and snow days this winter, and spring is getting closer. Thus, with the warm weather, I am very excited to start thinking about all the vegetables and herbs that are soon going to be in season! Good-bye soups and hello fresh salads!

One of our new favorite foods is quinoa ("keen-wah"), which is a tasty, semi-crunchy grain that cooks up like oats or rice, and is a terrific base for all kinds of salads. Best of all, quinoa is very high in protein; eating quinoa is a good way to get complete nutrition, especially if you are eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. (We're only 50% of the way there but always thinking about new ways to eat healthy and more plant-based.)

Here is what I concocted today: Stoplight Quinoa Salad, with tomatoes, corn, celery, garbanzos, cilantro, pumpkin seeds and homemade creamy curry dressing.

Another ingredient that we have been having fun with this winter are dried figs. We have put them in granola bars, and this past weekend Jim got pumped up and made 2 recipes: homemade fig newtons (very good) and fig-walnut biscotti.

There's something satisfying about cornbread baked in cast-iron, isn't there?

And here is what has made these photos so fun and possible: our new Canon Rebel, a Christmas present. It is amazing. Hopefully lots more food photos to come this year. Today's post was also sponsored by Gemma, taking a nice long afternoon nap so Mom can goof around in the kitchen...

G-dad and Nonna's winter visit

One Friday evening and one very full Saturday - a great visit with Granddad & Nonna!

As soon as they arrived, Gemma got right to work choosing her favorite books and favorite new laps to read them in. (Meanwhile J&J sorted through all the amazing goodies from Trader Joe's and Costco and Valli that Mom had brought!)

Classic yummy breakfast downtown at the Village Deli, and even some pretty snowflakes that morning. We haven't seen much of the white stuff this winter.

Jim's breakfast of choice - pancake with bananas artfully arranged by the cook. You can't tell from this angle, but these are huge pancakes. It was hanging so far off the plate that the sides were touching the table.

Gemma really liked her some 'cake (and blueberries) as well.

The rest of the morning we explored at B-town's science museum, WonderLab. We all agreed that it is as much fun for adults as kids. Gemma particularly loves the water features and the shadow room.

In the afternoon, Nonna surprised Gemma with a new photobook entitled "Four Happy Cousins", filled with photos from Christmastime. They read through it about 6 times without stopping to look up.

In the evening the adults went to IU Opera Theatre to see Der Rosenkavalier, an epic opera by Strauss. Awesome! Gemma stayed home very happily with Sarah, a new babysitter (and neighbor). Doubly awesome! It was wonderful to have the weekend together, Mom and Dad.

Some Gemma pix (using our new camera)

We received a Canon Rebel DSLR for Christmas and have been LOVING it! Its pictures are So Superior to those we used to get with old our digital point-and-shoot camera. What a gift!

We've been using point-and-shoot digital cameras since June 2007, when we sold Jim's much-loved and much-used film SLR equipment (Canon, of course) in order to buy our first-ever digital camera, which was all we could afford at the time. We made do with it for two years in South Africa, and it served its purpose well, providing us with a convenient means to share our experiences in Africa with family back home (through this here blog, as a matter of fact. Go to the beginning, if you care to, and you'll see!).

At any rate, we've enjoyed seeing what the camera can do. Here are a few, taken by Julianna as she attempts to capture Gemma's zaniness:





And a picture of Gemma and Jim spending time doing one of G's favorite activities: reading.

Happy Birthday, Julianna!

Birthdays come only once a year - so why limit the celebration? Julianna and I enjoy stretching out birthday activities over a week or more. They typically include: a date out to a fun breakfast place; a homemade meal, using all new recipes, by the non-birthday person, including dessert; yet another special dessert the following week; and anything else we can think of!

So this year we enjoyed breakfast at The Runcible Spoon, a famed Bloomington establishment, on Saturday morning, a few days after Jul's real bday. It was 17 degrees that morning, the coldest it has been all winter - and bbrrr, simply walking from the car to the cafe was enough winter for us, thank you very much. Breakfast was yummy, and it was fun to be out on a date (with G. too, of course)!




In accordance with our birthday ritual, for Julianna's birthday I made her a birthday meal, using all new recipes. This is a tradition that was begun early in our marriage (over 10 yrs ago now, wow!) and which has produced many great memories and palate-pleasing culinary delights.

My meal for Julianna was fairly basic (due to limited prep time on a weekday evening), so was limited to the following: bobotie-flavored lentil burgers (bobotie is a traditional South African dish), roasted veg (potato, sweet potato, carrots, parsnips) with honey and walnuts, and, for dessert, individual chocolate souffles. Yum! I think Jul thought so, too!

Happy birthday, JHG!

the 14th of Feb

Go Hoosiers!

It took us 2 1/2 years, but we finally made it to our first IU men's basketball game.

Although IU has a storied basketball history, with Bobby Knight being its greatest coach, we have failed to make it to a game during the past two seasons, partly because they were not very good. We're told that the games nearly always sell out, regardless of the whether team is having a good, middling, or even a poor season. This year they are doing very well, even nationally ranked, and in early December I finally got (student) tickets, but by that time the best I could find were situated in the very last row of the main arena, much higher than we had anticipated! Next time, we'll bring the binoculars.

It was a lot of fun to experience, finally and in-person, Hoosier basketball - and it was even better to be out on a date with my lovely Julianna!!




Oh, and they beat Illinois, 84-71.

Instead of the Super Bowl

Play time and pizza with the Brasher boys, ending with Jim's attempt to get all 7 of us in a self-portrait. (Notice Jim's excited grin...)

Oh thanks Jim, finally we got it - now that you stood behind the camera.

Asher's shoes

- have been passed along to Gemma, a most happy recipient! The morning after they came in the mail, she woke up and immediately wanted to put them on (over her PJ's), chanting, "Asher. Shoes."

Here she is playing in the kitchen before breakfast, doing one of her beloved activities: paging through her box of photos and cards, pointing and saying people's names.

Good news for Jim - and sunny days!

Why the red plate, you ask? We were celebrating Jim's successful defense of his Dissertation Proposal!! He submitted his proposal - also the first 3 chapters of the dissertation - to his advisory committee (three faculty members at IU), and then set up the Defense. They talked through the chapters and his strategy to complete his research. Their feedback, in a word: Excellent.

Sorry, Jim, hopefully I'm not butchering the summary. The important thing is: he is now officially approved for his research! Now on to interviews and research and setting up his trip to Australia! More on that later.

(P.S. in the round dish is sweet potato spoon bread, a new recipe from the owner of Foster's Market in Durham. Quite tasty. And yes, that is Gemma signing "more" - she was hungry.)

On the home front, we have been really enjoying the mild winter - with the heat off, the back door open, and clothes & diapers out to dry on the clothesline!

Here's my new fun thing: re-growing green onions. Just keep them in water, snip & use as they grow, and they will continue to sprout.

Of course we also have been frequenters at the park on these sunny days. Say the word "park" or "walk" and Gemma races to the door, pointing to her stroller and ready to go. She is rapidly gaining new vocabulary and amazing us every day with her new words and sense of humor. New favorites: stuck, walk, Y (for the YMCA), outside, park, wet, achoo, pretzel, fast, snack, bath, bubbles and pizza. This afternoon when she got up from her nap, she said, "Momma, Daddy work?"

Here are some scenes from a sunny, windy afternoon at Olcott Park.

Happy Friday

Here is Gemma in the pink wool dress that her Nonna wore at this age. Smile please, Gemma. Sure! Sit like a butterfly and flap your wings, Gemma. Sure! (she learned this at her toddler tumbling class at the Y and now loves to sit like a butterfly and sing & clap)

And Happy 2nd Birthday today to her cousin Wesley Everett Welty down in Waco, TX!